The little green jacket

A series of children wear a green jacket in an illustrated children's tale that spans several years. A jacket is created in a factory, and soon, a boy on a farm named Mike receives it as a winter gift, which he loves. Eventually, he grows too big for it, and his mother encourages him to donate it to a coat drive. The jacket makes its way to Diego, a boy in a city; Vanessa, a girl in a smaller town; Austin, that girl's little brother; and, finally, an unnamed girl in a different country, whose home has been devastated by a natural disaster. Dee tells the story from the third-person perspective of the wearers and from the first-person perspective of the jacket. The author effectively communicates the special relationships that different children have with the same article of clothing--and how the jacket loves each of them. An author's note suggests reading just the kids' text, just the jacket's, or both together; the latter mode is the most rewarding, while the jacket's text alone is the least. The gorgeous, realistic illustrations, co-created by Goad and Dee, are primarily grayscale, with the only colors coming from the vibrant neon green of the jacket and the lighter green of the jacket's narration. The diverse characters are portrayed with a range of skin tones. A strong tale of love and sharing for young readers. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.